Events on the Train

Neia and Mana enter the cabin, and are greeted by the rest of the group.

“I'm sorry!” Eris immediately bows. “I shouldn't have caused a scene.”

Mana looks at her in surprise, sits in her original seat, then-

“I-it's okay, I'm sorry too.” Mana replies.

“!” Eris' eyes open wider, then return to normal.

The group returns to their normal scene, Locke quietly sits in the corner, seemingly sleeping.

Eventually, the food cart comes and the group receives breakfast.

Outside, the third moon slowly descends. Due to the longer nights, Breakfast is often held during the last night.

Basic oatmeal and toast and syrup, Tea and eggs all occupy the groups plates.

“...” Mana looks at the tea in front of her.

“Is there something wrong?” Neia asks.

“N-no… I just haven’t had this in a while…”

After about an hour, a knock wrings on the door.

“Yes?” Helia asks.

“Hello, is Miss Helia here?”

“That’s me.”

The door slides open revealing a middle aged man with a thick mustache. Wearing a back suit, marked with the train system symbol.

“Its a pleasure, I’m the Conductor’s Aid.” He says, with sweat on his brow.

“L-likewise.” Helia stands and shakes his hand. “What can I help you with?”

“Well…” The Aid’s face turns grim. “There’s been a murder.”

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

“This is quite strange…” The man says, his brown robe hanging low over his legs.

“...Truly tragic.” Says the woman, dressed in all black.

Absalon Ramorski and Uda Wrobel look down at the body that is sprawled on the floor. The cart has a bar and several tables for dining. Its quite fancy, with a chandelier hanging in the center.

“Ah!” The door to the cart slides open and the Aid appears, following behind him is Helia. “Mr. Ramorski, thank you for coming!”

“It is of no consequence… It's a pleasure to meet you all, I am Absalon Ramorski. Please call me Absalon.”

The man’s stern eyes, separated from the world by the ornamental glasses adorning his face, drift over the group.

“It’s nice to see you again sir!” Hiiro says. “You too, miss!”

“Yes… Ah!” Absalon's gaze falls on Neia. “Heterochomia? That's quite rare, it’s said to be a symbol of talent.”

“So I've been told.” Why does he seem familiar…

“Well, this is quite perplexing, so all of you may need to help.” Absalon says, looking at the body.

“I’ll examine it.” Helia says, getting onto her knee in front of the corpse.

“Shouldn’t we have those guys from the school help us?”

“They cannot leave their post.” The Aid explained.

On the way, the group passed by 6 guards stationed just outside their cart. Among them was the chestnut haired man.

“Huh?!” Helia screamed in shock.

“What?”

“This man… His bones are gone!”

The entire cart fell silent.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s flimsy, like noodles!”

Absalon bends his knee and investigates himself.

“His bones are not gone… They’re melted!”

“Wha?”

Everyone decides to flip the man around, facing him upwards.

“Ah!” Nerrisa suddenly says.

“Hm? What is it now?” Eris looks sceptically.

“I know this man.”

“Wha?!”

“He’s a guard for my father… A powerful Magus.”

“Your father?” Absalon asks.

The two investigators fall silent once again.

“Sir, tell us what happened.”

“Ah, yes… This man was eating here and collapsed. We attempted to help, but it was too fast.” The Aid says.

“Where’s his food?”

“He only had tea… it was all gone.”

“...”

“M-maybe…” Suddenly, a soft voice entered the fray. “I may know what happened…”

“What?”

“W-well, the Gila flower could do this…”

“The Gila flower?” Helia says, confused.

“Ah! That flower from the Apothecaries!”

“Y-yeah, the fire flower…”

Absalon's eyes narrow before he adds, “It is very true that tea can be made from the flower, however,the flower does not have enough strength to do something like this. Nor would someone be able to activate it.”

“...” Manako thought for a moment, then pushed herself to continue. “I-in many texts, it’s said that the soul is near the s-stomach! Since magic is from the soul, it’s possible that it possibly got t-trigured.”

“...”

“Then, the flower activated and just happened to be extra powerful… There is precedent! The great Nicte fire!” Helia explained.

Manako twitched at the mention, but didn’t say anything more.

“That certainly is possible…Sir, who served the tea?” Absalon asked.

“While… We aren't sure, no one saw someone serve it.”

“I see… Perhaps he brewed it himself, it would make sense that a Magus would have a banned flower.”

“Then it was just an accident?”

“Possibly… No, more than likely.”

“Oh, thank the Spirit!”

“This man should be separated from the guests… Do you have someplace to store him?”

“N-no…”

“Then may we bring him to the back? These students have already been exposed, so it should be no problem.”

“Yes! That’s a brilliant idea! I’ll follow you to bring him back.

“But someone needs to inform the conductor.”

“I can…” Neia says.

“Thank you!”

“And I must report to my father.” Nerissa explains.

“Okay, then you two head up and then return to the back cart.”

“Sure.”

“I suppose I shall.”

♕♛♕♛♕♛♕

A strange feeling stays in Neia’s gut as she approaches the front car. Standing on the connecting platforms outside, blue light engulfing them, they approach the door.

Knock knock!

“Yes?”

“I’ve been sent to report about the incident!”

“Ah!”

The door slid open, revealing three men in black uniforms.

“What happened?”

“They think it was an accident, food poisoning basically. The man used a magic flower to make tea, and it got activated.”

“I-I see… I was worried someone was trying to disconnect the carts.”

“Disconnect?”

“Yes… The carts are held together through magic. Each connection is held together by a hidden person, even though I don't know who they are each trip. The train line decides which passengers to contract.” The conductor points to the black boxes on either side of the main connector. “It's there.”

“Huh?” Neia reacts disinterested.

“I appreciate you coming all this way, return to your seat now.”

Neia turns and re-enters the second cart.

I still feel like something's wrong…

“Ah!”

The realization struck.